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Hi All,I have another BatRep, this one my first battle with the new Dark Eldar.It was played right after my Tau battle, so same board setup and mission.However, the new Dark Eldar... they're pretty good.The Codex itself is a lot more flavourful than the Tau one and quite frankly, power-wise I think it's a big jump.

So, I took a Black Heart Battalion for it's 6+ FNP save on everything (including vehicles) and the game changing Agents of Vect Stratagem that lets me deny Strats.Oh, and for fun, I decided to bring out a trio of Talos.

Why? Mostly because I needed to keep half my army on the board, and since you now have to count Power Points...

Well, the Talos are big point sinks that hopefully won't get blown off the board turn 1.

I had heard that they were the "special sauce" in the Codex, so I also wanted to see what they could do.

That is, if they ever got to the front lines.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

How did the True Kin do?

Were things over in a heartbeat or was it a slugfest?

Read. On.

Best,-BT

P.S. Comments and Critiques greatly appreciated! Plus, there is fluff...

The spiked door irised open to show another empty room. The figure in the entryway raised a concerned eyebrow and brought a thin hand up to his face, rubbing his chin in thought.

Farseer Thielbane of Craftworld Biel-Tan was now officially worried. This was the third similarily room that had he had checked. Once, it had held another of his Craftworld brethren, but now it was empty. Thielbane had noticed the subtle absence of Craftworlders aboard the Drukhari vessel that they shared, but it had taken him a slightly longer amount of time to confirm his suspicions.

They were gone.

All of them.

Not all the Eldar per se, but the Craftworlders, surely enough. Sadly, he had let his own guard down, not having bothered scrying the future since Y'stral was away. The Archon of the Grisly Hand Kabal had sped away in the dead of near-night on some sort of mission that left Thielbane minding the proverbial shop. The other Craftworlders had thought the Farseer mad for not bolting at the nearest opportunity, but Y'stral had been a staunch companion for such a long time, it seemed unseemly to leave him in a lurch. Plus, the Archon was as vengeful as a Y'nnari with half a Soulburst and getting on his bad side was something to be avoided.

Thielbane leaned against the wall in thought, trying to avoid the spikier bits that hummed slighlty with the far-off wails of anguish from the Torment Pits. He should really consider leaving though. His Craftworld had been shattered and the Seer Council was in disarray. Surely if he wanted to be a major player he could easily come in and assume more than his fair share of power. But, that seemed more trouble than it was worth.

"Thiel!"

A familiar shout broke his reverie, and the Farseer looked up to see Archon Y'stral striding forwards carrying an enormous sack. He was wearing his usual black and red raiding armor and sporting a near-maniacal grin. The game was clearly afoot.

"Y'stral. I'm glad you're back. Do you... Do you know where the others have gone off to?"

The Archon laughed and said back with a sneer, "Oh, those losers? Don't worry about it, Thiel. I sent them away."

A jolt of shock went down Thielbane's spine as the edges of some dark mechanization started to form on the edges of his mind. "Away? Why? I... They wouldn't just... leave me here."

Y'stral shrugged and said, "Yeah, well, you can't do much when you're under sleep-venom. I mean, besides the inner screaming and all."

The Farseer rubbed his temples. Not dead at least. That was good. "I... You didn't... kill them, right?"

The Archon snorted and said, "Nah, I knew that'd put you in a snit. Those boring sticks-in-the-mud were just holding you back. They'll wake up soon enough. Now, we have something big to do, you and me."

"Ffft, those losers?" snorted Y'stral, "I have 'em kept up in one of the secured holds. Nothing'll happen to 'em while we have a little fun. C'mon, don't you at least want to hear the details?"

Thielbane tapped his foot, sighed and said, "If we do this do you promise to let them go, unharmed?"

Y'stral grinned, threw an arm around Thielbane and said, "Absolutely, Thiel. Absolutely. Now, I've got this great opportunity. Been away a while. The Dark City and all. Lots of big changes. Vect really came through and all. You gotta see it, Thiel. It's all... It's like a rummage sale over there. Raiders and Venoms just flying out the door. I picked up so much on the cheap. And all I had to do was just trade some favours around."

Y'stral shrugged, "Yeah, but c'mon, Thiel. You think something like that's gonna hold back some potential deal-making? If you stopped dealing with someone just because they killed you once or thrice, you'd never do any business in Commeraugh. Anyway, I put us down as being Vect supporters."

"You did... WHAT?"

"Yeah, I know. They didn't even have hats or anything. Just this stupid tablet thing. 'Writ of the Living Muse.' Hah, more like overwrought paperweight," growled Y'stral, "Anyway... so all we have to do is keep doing what we're doing. You know... winning? And now we can get so much on the cheap and get real weapons Thiel. REAL weapons. I don't know what they were doing to the Huskblades, but that's back and oh, oh you HAVE to see the Blasters now. Knock your socks right off. Blow 'em off more like it."

Thielbane whet his lips, "So... you pledged us to... eternal victory in the name of a vengeful Supreme Lord who will supply us with weapons and equipment, but has the reputation of destroying anyone who disappoints him?"

Y'stral sighed and said, "Thiel, Thiel, Thiel. That's the Craftworld talking. We were hanging on the ledge before, but now we're back on top. All you have to do is never lose."

The audacity of the situation made Thielbane sputter for a bit, which gave Y'stral the opportunity to throw the bag he was carrying onto the ground with a clatter.

"What... What is that, Y'stral?"

The Archon smirked, opening it up and holding out various pieces of savage looking gear. "My old stuff. Extra armor. Oooh, double faced helmet with horns, classic. Old Agonizer. Good ol' blaster. Perfectly in working order."

"I... See..." said Thielbane, not liking where the conversation was headed. "And... why do you have it all here?"

"Because," continued Y'stral, his smile spreading into a rictus grin, "I need a Dracon. Someone who I can trust NOT to stab me in the back."

"Not the notorious Space Pirate that made the galaxy quake? Captain Thielbane of the Scarlet Serpents? Him? That's not you?"

Thielbane sighed. It was this conversation again. "You... know that's not how it works. That was a different path. A different me. I can't just..."

"Pretend?" shot back Y'stral, playfully jabbing a finger into the Farseer's chest. "But, which one is the real you, Thiel? Is it this simpering half-competent Rune-lover or is the pirate who made girls squeal and Admirals quake in their boots?"

The Archon pulled the horned helmet up, and Thiel could see his own reflection, twisted in the dark metal. Something about it seemed familar. It... called to him in a way. Something deep within his soul asked a question that had been long since hidden: Why not?

Thielbane whet his lips and said, "Y'stral... If I do this... it'll be... for the good of the Craftworld. Just to let you know."

"Of course," said Y'stral pressing the helmet into his companion's chest, watching as a familiar look crossed the once-Farseer's face, "Good of the Craftworlds. Can't be helped. Did what you had to do. Just this one time, Thiel. You can stop after that. I promise."

--------------------------------------------------------

"Sergeant, repeat that last messsage."

Commander Oswald Jenkins of the Cadian 555th was on a routine patrol of his artillery divisions when an odd message had come down the Comm-bead links. The old, grizzled Commander had been through more than he could nearly bear. Being too far away from Cadia when it fell, he felt the damnable pit of dispair open up and swallow him whole. Only by taking in the refugee Guardsmen of their once-bright homeworld did he feel any solace. That and when he was smiting the foes of the Imperium. However, his unit was breaking in new additions and repairing his transports. It would be days still until they could break position, but it did offer him time to test out the new Manticores and make sure that their usually unreliable Storm-Eagle rockets at least worked. And things were shaping up. Until the call.

The Commander frowned. Collins was a ten-year man with no history of tomfoolery. Whatever it was, it was serious.

"Keep your position, Sergeant, we'll be there soon."

Jenkins turned off his comm-bead and tapped open the comms of his Chimera, boosting the exterior speakers.

"This is Commander Jenkins. We're moving out. We have possible Xenos on the horizon, men."

There was some murmurs of discontent that spread through the assembled Guardsmen. Most were looking for vengeance against the hated Ruinous Powers, not against some nebulous third party. But, a few glares and growls from the Commissars shut down any signs of unrest.

Jenkins nodded to himself. Best to take care of things swiftly, then. No need to waste time on reinforcements if just a handful of stragglers. He tugged at his greying beard in thought. No, something about it seemed off. Too easy.

He opened up the internal comms to the Manticores. "Lads, you too. I want a proper field test of your guns. Let's see how the alien likes rockets to the face."

---------------------------------------------------------

X'Bella Le'gosi floated slightly off the ground surrounded by her Trio of Talos. Some time had passed, but the Archon's instructions were clear.

1) Go through the Webway Portal to the assigned area.

2) Stand out in the open.

3) Wait for the party to start.

Bella scratched a few more notes in her book. The Archon had established new connections with the Black Heart Kabal, which had oddly made the once aloof Prophets of the Flesh reach out to her Salon of Sorrow. They had usually ignored her and her small group of creations, but now that alliances were being made, Bella had been almost surprised when a sizable number of raw supplies were left mostly screaming on her doorstep.

And it was a nice opportunity to make some new friends. She looked around at the three gigantic monstrosities that hummed as they slowly hovered nearby. Bella had yet to name them, but it was nice to have some new faces around. And it was just perfect timing that she had finished up before the orders had come in.

It had taken her some time to do research about a "party," but the base elements were clear: libations, entertainment and converstaion. The Archon's instructions were unclear, though, if she was hosting the party or if she was joining an ongoing one. Still, she had brought the necessities. One of the Talos had the appropriate large and multi-coloured pointy hat, the other sporting an array of liquid intoxicants and the third pre-programmed with appropriate aural interjections. Having the Talos around did make the entire affair much more straightforward. Indeed, the future overall seemed less forboding.

Actually, it was just less chaotic. By utilizing the broken Soul-Stones from the last few missions alongside the Craftworlders, analyzing the raw fundamental possibility strains of the universe and divining a semblance of the future was no longer an impossibility. She wondered if this is what a Farseer felt like, looking at the bright sun of tomorrow, just beyond the reach of certainty. How much it felt like...

"BELLA!"

Bella looked up to see a somehow familiar looking armored Eldar waving his hands in front of her. She blinked for a moment. The suns had moved rather far in the sky. Time had passed then.

With a nod of her head, the Talos went into immediate action. One of the Talos helpfully dispensed a frothy drink into a cup, another let go with a stream of sparkles into the air from it's Haywire Blasters, and the last howled in an approximation of a friendly greeting recorded from the Hive Fleet Beheamoth.

Instead of showing signs of appreciation, the stranger took a few steps back, shook his head to re-center himself and continued.

"Bella!" interjected the strange new guest, "You have to get out of here! The Imperials are bearing right down on this position. I've got a Raider ready to go! Just get on board and..."

A high whistling sound made Bella look up curiously as something clipped the ruined building next to her and the subsequent seizmic explosion launched the stranger off his feet into her. The Talos growled in discontent, but Bella turned her head to indicate that dismantling was not to be done at this particular moment.

The stranger pulled himself off, realized that his helmeted face had been buried in her chest and muttered a confused apology, looking shamefacedly away.

How curious indeed. She had never seen such a behavior in a Kabalite before. Perhaps it was some kind of viral infection?

"Bella, it's too late now, that was a ranging salvo. We're in the thick of it now. Damnit, Y'stral, why do we cut these things so close?"

Bella noted that one of the Talos was looking at something far away and glanced down the broken avenues, her head turning from one side to the other side in curiosity.

Humans. Rows upon rows of humans. So this was that timeline then. Bella made note of the happenstance as something hit another building knocking around some more inconsequential material. Perhaps they were the guests to the party? It was a good thing that she had brought extra supplies then. She nodded to the Talos, who settled into position.

This was going to be an interesting day indeed.

----------------------------------------------------------

Mission: Big Guns Never Tire

Setup: Dawn of War

----------------------------------------------------------

To Be Continued!

----------------------

---------------Setup---------------

Well, setup is an interesting one. My opponent is rather surprised by the sheer volume of guys I have available, and when I set the trio of Talos down, he becomes rather worried about the center. I put the Talos down in the middle on my front line with Bella and a Raider with Wracks and my Writ Archon (in the fluff as Thielbane) behind them. Razorwings on the sides and then the rest of my army goes in reserves using Screaming Jets. I also use a CP to give Bella Diabolical Soothsayer, which then gives me back 3 CPs (Best Warlord Trait ever?) and the Vexetor Mask for another CP.

My opponent proceeds to put his Lemun Russes behind the big LoS blocking building to hide them from the Talos (probably anyway) with the Chimera and one Manticore between them. One Manticore goes into each of the ruins on the corner and my opponent wraps each of them with an infantry blob. The Sentinels are deployed more conservatively and the rest of the Guard make nice lines to try and hedge me out.

"Bella!" screamed Thielbane, trying to keep his feet planted on the Raider rocking seismically from the Imperal bombardments.

Either the Haemonculus couldn't hear him or was just unflinchingly apathetic to his pleas, it was hard to say. Then, Y'stral's voice came screeching in over the comms:

"Haemo! Get up there and show the Mon-Keigh a good time. Thiel! Get out of the Raider or we're going to smash it to bits!"

Thielbane looked up, swore and sprinted out of the Raider, skidding to stop as a quartet of Drukhari warships landed around him in perfect synchronicity.

Archon Y'stral was at the head of the lead Raider, cackling with delight."Thiel, get that Writ-thing out! Minions! That's the word of Vect himself! Don't screw this up if you know what's good for you!"

-------------------------------------------------------

Thielbane bails out to the right, advancing and setting up a nice LoS to the backfield Manticore and Russ.The Talos advance, as does Bella. The Razorwings move at angle to criss-cross the center building (and thus prevent any shenanigans from the Guard to crash them).The Raider moves to the right in front of Thiel and the rest of my army arrives from their Screaming Jets to pile around Thiel.

Shooting is actually not as amazing as I would have thought given everyone's gnashing of teeth, but I wreck the right-most Russ, the center Manticore and put about half or so wounds on the Chimera.I also use the Fire and Fade stratagem and get the Talos on top the building ready for a Turn 2 assault!

Picture Caption: Huh, that was... kind of mild shooting. Hopefully not a sign of things to come?

Sparks shot off like maddened fireworks insid the Commander Chimera, forcing Commander Jenkins to keep his head down as some kind of dark Xenos weaponry fried out some of the systems of the tank.

But, the Tech-priests had made these things to last and a little something like losing half the electronics wouldn't do much to the Machine Spirit.Or... so he hoped.

"Everyone listen up!" barked the Commander, "We're only going to get one shot at this! Focus Fire on those monsters up there, we're..."

There was a sudden high-pitched screech and Jenkins forced the Comm-Bead out of his ear in shock and pain.

What was that? How did the Xenos figure out their comm-frequency?

"Get me another frequency!" yelled the Commander, "We have to act quickly before it's too late!"

--------------------------------------------------

IG answers back with the Lemun Russ and Chimera moving to the left out of LoS from the Ravager/Raider park that just showed up. The Sentinels move up to BarBQ the Razorwings (I still don't understand how that works, but I guess it does?).The Guardsmen all move around to recreate a second line of defense with one Sentinel and a unit of Guardsmen being thrown to the metaphorical wolves to slow down the Talos.

Shooting starts with a not great FRF/SRF as 6's to wound against the Talos is just really, really hard to get (or so it seemed). The remainder of the Infantry all drop their Mortars on the big guys and finally manage to weasel a wound through.My opponent then decides to use his Coordinated Firepower stratagem... that is... IF IT WASN'T BLOCKED BY THE AGENTS OF VECT! (Cue airhorns).

A bit put off, he decides to throw shots out with his last Russ and the Chimera, which do very little damage through my 4++ invul save. One Manticore opens up and only gets 5 shots, which do nothing to the Talos. Deciding that perhaps the Talos have just been a massive Distraction Carnifex (Kinda...), my opponent decides to do the somewhat questionable action of shooting at one of the Ravagers instead and does some wounds, but not enough to lower it's stats. The Sentinels then somehow shoot at the airborne Ravagers and do a few wounds each.

Picture Caption: Talos is the new Distraction Carnifex?

-----------------------Turn 2: Dark Eldar-----------------------

X'Bella Le'Gosi watched the approaching human line with her usual head-turning assessment. The humans were assembled in orderly lines and were releasing some kind of brightly-coloured energy salvos at the Talos. Nothing had really happened as the lights bounced off the heavily armoured creatures and Bella's mind was racing with conjectures.

The Archon had said that she should "show them a good time," which had at least 304 different meaning depending on the variables.

But, given the setting of a "party," the lines and light-show could mean only one thing:

This was a DANCE PARTY.

Sliding her hands through the air, her silent commands went out amongst the Talos, who instantly responded. They raised their arms in the air (like they just didn't care) and began to do their best impressions of prancing around like a drug-fueled Wych while whirling their chains in a hopefully celebretory manner and firing their Haywire Blasters in return.

There was a pause and the humans began shouting loudly as the enormous creatures fell amongst them. The Talos were clearly doing their best to find dancing partners amongst the mass of suddenly very lively humans.

Bella nodded in approval as mostly intact Guardsmen began hurtling through the air. This was surely the most apropriate choice of action.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone moves up with the Talos especially getting ready to jump the front line offerings. The Razorwings zoom around. Bella heals one of Talos for 3 wounds using the Fleshcraft Strategem.

I delete all of the Sentinels with fine Blaster and Dissie fire and wipe out one of the Infantry squads on the right. The Talos fire their Haywire and suprisingly are able to finish off the Chimera while the Razorwings start to try and chip away at the Russ. In a stroke of poor luck, the Psyker is lost in the Chimera wreck.

Then it's on to the Assault!

The Talos pretty much ignore all of the Overwatch and come in, chopping the Sentinel to bits with their Macro-Scapels and then the fury of the Chain-Whip is unleashed, easily tearing apart the Guard squad.

Not again, thought Commander Jenkins to himself as the front lines began to crumple. The enormous creatures had suddenly gone insane and were ignoring the enormous volleys of lasguns fired indiscriminantly at them. Jenkins had elbowed the Psyker out of the way of the flaming Chimera, and he felt only a vague twinge of guilt at letting the mutant die horribly in the smoke and flames.

But, he had to admit, swallowing nervously at the incoming monstrosities, perhaps the Pysker had taken the easy way out.

-------------------------------------------------------------

My opponent moves another Infantry squad up to the Talos grinder and everyone who can pulls back.

Shooting goes out again with everything aiming at the Talos.I don't have enough CPs to attempt to deny the Strategem again, and after the fury of Lasgun, Mortar and Shells, the Talos are left with a single wound remaining on one of the monsters, but the other two are completely intact! (I blame my janky 4++ invul rolls)

Picture Caption: This... probably isn't good news for the IG.

-------------------------Turn 3: Dark Eldar-------------------------

Hekatrix Allonia swore as something slammed against the hull of her Razorwing. It was bad enough that they had to fight at such low altitudes that the Mon-Keigh could reach out and touch them, but now things were getting much more annoying with debris hitting...

A faint wailing brought her attention to her windshield and paled when she saw the half-rent form of a Guardsman, holding on with a vice like grip to nose of her plane.

Allonia snarled and jerked the controls to the side, but the human was wedged in tight.

"Nice one, Allonia," came the annoying snarky tone of Hekatrix Ray'keth from the cockpit of her Razorwing, "I guess you're picking up your date for tonight?"

"Shut up, Ray'keth," said Allonia, ignoring the closely passing Jetfighter. It was only for a split-second, but Allonia could clearly see her rival making a rude gesture with her fingers as they passed. It was bad enough that they had been forced into joining a Kabal of all things, but having only Ray'keth to be compared against was an insult that boiled within her.

Snarling, Allonia pitched the Jetfighter into a roll, and when she righted herself, she could only sigh when she saw that part of the human had gotten stuck in her fusilage and was now flapping along completely jammed into her plane.

At least they were winning the battle. But, Ray'keth would never let her hear the end of all this.

------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone moves in for the kill.

I park the Raiders and Ravagers on top the building.The Talos FLOAT over the heads of the bedraggled front line who only now realize the folly of trying to block flying MCs. Razorwings zoom around some more.

Shooting has the Russ nearly wrecked and decent damage done to the Infantry squads.

In Assault, the Talos do a massive 3 way assault and finish off all of the Infantry and the remains of the Russ on the left as they are now hitting on 2+!

Picture Caption: Right, I think we can now say that Talos are pretty nasty for T3 Guardsmen.

Commander Jenkins sprinted for dear life as the Lemun Russ next to him was rent asunder by the Xenos. How had this happened? There were only supposed to be four of the creatures, not an overwhelming horde!

Skidding to a stop, he motioned for the last of his men to form a defensive line.

They would it, or die trying.

-----------------------------------------------------With not too much left, the Guard try to cluster their Characters near the center.Shooting has the Manticores finally dropping the really wounded Talos.

Picture Caption: Well, you done good Talos. You done good.

------------------------Turn 4: Dark Eldar------------------------

"STOP!"

The command echoed out amongst the Raiders, and the Kabalities pulled their hands off their weapons instinctively.

Thielbane turned in confusion, as he saw Y'stral whip out his Huskblade and leap off the Raider, landing with a screeching wail as the Archon barreled straight towards the last Guardsmen amongst the poisoned and disintegrated remains of the last stand that had been set up so hastily.

The Mon-Keigh leader was barely visible amongst the haze, but there was a snicker-snakt of a blade and only a shriveled husk fell to the earth.

Y'stral howled in glory, but Thielbane tried not to roll his eyes. They had a veritable armada of weaponry yet unfired. Surely there were more effecient uses of time.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Y'stral wants some glory as he pops out with some Wracks for backup.The Talos move in to hit the left Manticore.

Shooting wipes away the screen for the Archon who wants the Commander for himself.The Talos also do a good number of wounds to the Manticore.

The Assault is pretty brutal as the Archon takes down the Commander in a flurry of totally unnecessary Huskblade hits and my Talos finish off the Manticore after wading through some not-too-scary overwatch.

Picture Caption: Right, no need to hit them too hard when they're down...

-------------------------Turn 4: Imperial Guard-------------------------My opponent is down to one Manticore with one rocket left, one Commissar and an Infantry squad.He fires the Rocket to try and finish a Ravager, fails and then calls the game.

Post-Game Thoughts: Wow, that was rough. The Dark Eldar hit like a truck compared to... well... pretty much almost any army out there.

Including Eldar.

It's mostly just numbers, but you can build your army in a number of exciting ways now. My current build was unintentionally very light in Infantry, so my opponent which had a massive load of anti-Infantry in it's Guardsmen could do very little. And the anti-Tank focussed on the Talos, but with first turn, I was able to get too close using Fire and Fade, and I had hit his armor hard enough that it just wasn't effective enough to hurt the big guys. Although, if he had fired that lost Manticore shot during his turn 1, he might have taken one MC down, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that would have made... It had just hit me after the battle that I had lost one Talos. Just ONE out of my entire army. The rest of the units were somewhat damaged, but still functional. In return, the Guard had gotten almost all of it's units wiped. Harrowing indeed.

Right, once again, let's do this proper:

1) Archons: B+A bit pricey for what they do, but the Writ and re-rolls makes them very useful and the very accurate blaster and hella-painful Huskblade make them finally good. That said, they're still pricey.

2) Haemonculus: B+Bella healed the Talos and gave me bonus CP's! What's not to love? However, she just didn't do that much as she wasn't needed on the front lines...

3) Warriors: B+Good and cheap. The blaster is so much deadlier at 1d6 damage that I didn't mind at all.

4) Raiders: B+DCannon Raiders put in work and with re-rolls they can finally do some damage!

5) Ravagers: ATriple cheap-as-chips Dissie Ravagers HURT things. I liked using them and with only two I didn't feel that much of a pinch when I had to put Thiel back in his Raider to zoom around.

6) Razorwings: B+Pretty solid anti-tank and anti-infantry. No complaints, but they were kind of awkward when zooming around the center. Not sure if better than a Ravager for it's points.

7) Wracks: BFairly cheap, didn't do anything this game...

8) Talos: AJust amazing. I had very low expectations, but they tanked hard with their 3+/4++ with FNP on top. And they hit like a truck too against Guardsmen. Love 'em. In a unit of 3 with Fire and Fade they can really move across the table and with the ability to fly they are hard to screen against. Just really great units overall.

-----------------------------------------------------------

---------------Epilogue---------------

Thielbane walked across the ruined battlefield taking stock of their situation. It was a clear victory, but it seemed hollow compared to before. Granted, he had told himself that it was for the good of the Craftworlds, but how much of that was true.Smiting a petty force of Mon-Keigh who were really doing not that much themselves for what seemed like a few moments of amusement was little reward in the grand scheme of things.

And how much was... he paused as he saw Hekatrixes Allonia and Ray'keth, clad in their tight-fitting Wychsuits walking over from their Razorwings. The taller, bustier and far more crass Ray'keth was whispering something to Allonia, who did her best to keep her raven-hair from exploding with rage. Something had happened out there, perhaps it was best to find out.

As he neared, Ray'keth bowed dramatically and Allonia gave a curt, respectful gesture from the arena, which in it's more simplistic way meant more to Thielbane. That, and the fact that she was his on-and-off again lover. But, the two were looking at him in a rather unusual way.

"So, you're the new Dracon?" said Ray'keth, a finger playing along her bottom lip. "You're handsomer than I would have thought."

Allonia rolled her eyes and said, "Ray'keth, he's in full armor. You can't see anything."

Ray'keth narrowed her gaze and snarled at her rival, "Oh, yes. So, you're calling him hideous, then? How narrow minded Allonia. Perhaps that's why you were draging that poor Mon-Keigh half-torn-up across the warzone."

"That means nothing and you know it," shot back Allonia. The two Wyches stood nearly a swords-breath apart, and Thielbane recognized the tell-tale signs of a fight as both Hekatrixes' hands slowly moved doubtlessly towards hidden blades...

And that was when Archon Y'stral smashed through the wall of the nearby building riding one of the Talos and drinking directly from some kind of hose hooked up to the creature.

The totally-rocked-off-his-nuts leader of the Kabal landed with a wallop, causing the two Wyches to scurry back in deference and fear.

"Did you see me up there? Man, this is great! If I knew the Haemo could make them have drugs for blood, I would have had a dozen of them at my last murder-orgy. Oh, you gotta try this!"

Thielbane sighed and before he could respond, Allonia and Ray'keth made lightning-speed deferencial gestures and apologies before sprinting off to safety.

Wonderful, Thiel thought, just when things couldn't be more complicated. But, he had to admit, at least it wasn't boring.

-----------------------------------------------

Far off on the other side of the battlefield, X'Bella Le'Gosi was examining the remains of a strange two-headed mechanical avian. The Imperial Commander had it resting on his shoulder and it was clearly of some value. The last of her surviving Talos held it in its claws and with a delicate motion, turned some kind of internal mechanism.

There was a sudden whirring as a hologram appeared, crudely made, but detailing a number of planets. Bella turned her head to one side, and then to the other. Imperial names and designations appeared as well as a code of some kind.

Interesting, she thought. Perhaps the Archon would be interested in it. Today's party had most likely been quite a success. Surely they should try again at a different locale. The Mon-Keigh would indeed be in for an event they would not soon forget. If only that they would probably soon be dead and relative degradation of memory components was minimal compared to total systemic failure. Bella nodded to herself. Yes, the possibilities to the future seemed open indeed.